A Syrian soldier gives a thumbs-up Friday as he stands on top of a tank alongside two fellow soldiers on the northeastern outskirts of Damascus.

Written by

AAMER MADHANIX
| USA Today

President Barack Obama said Friday that the U.S. has determined with high confidence the Syrian government used chemical weapons against its own people, as the White House released a four-page report summarizing its case against the Bashar Assad regime.

"This kind of attack is a challenge to the world," Obama said. "We cannot accept a world where women and children and innocent civilians are gassed on a terrible scale."

Obama repeated Friday that he has still not made a final determination on whether the U.S. will carry out a punitive military strike against Syria, but a senior defense ...